A new house for Dr Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will put in his papers on Monday to set the stage for the new government to be formed, irrespective of the verdict on Saturday.

President Pratibha Devisingh Patil will ask him to continue till the formation of the next government. Singh has convened a meeting of the outgoing cabinet on Monday morning where a formal decision to resign will be taken.

“It is by protocol that the prime minister of the outgoing government resigns after the poll results,” an official at the Prime Minister's Office explained.

As is standard practice, the government has also initiated the task of identifying an alternate bungalow for Singh in case Saturday’s results do not go in the Congress’s favour.

“The prime minister cannot be told to wait because the officials have not been able to identify a bungalow that is okayed from a security perspective,” said a senior government official.

Five years back, Singh had to wait for nearly two months before he could move into the prime minister’s official residence due to delays in readying Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s new home at Krishna Menon Marg. Eyebrows were then raised at Vajpayee continuing to stay at RCR for nearly six weeks after bowing out.